But this is just what the U.S. has been doing in Afghanistan. After ten years of war costing at least $450 billion, 1,600 dead and 15,000 seriously wounded soldiers, the US has achieved none of its strategic or political goals.

Each US soldier in Afghanistan costs $1 million per annum. CIA employs 80,000 mercenaries there, cost unknown. The U.S. spends a staggering $20.2 billion alone annually air conditioning troop quarters in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The most damning assessment comes from the US-installed Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai: America’s war has been “ineffective, apart from causing civilian casualties.”

Washington’s goal was a favorable political settlement producing a pacified Afghan state run by a regime totally responsive to American political, economic and strategic interests; a native sepoy army led by white officers; and U.S. bases that threaten Iran, watch China, and control the energy-rich Caspian Basin.

All the claims made about fighting “terrorism and al-Qaida,” liberating Afghan women, and bringing democracy are pro-war window dressing. CIA chief Leon Panetta admitted there were no more than 25-50 al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan. Why are there 150,000 U.S. and NATO troops there?

Washington’s real objective was clearly defined in 2007 by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher: to “stabilize Afghanistan so it can become a conduit and hub between South and Central Asia –- so energy can flow south.”

The Turkmenistan-Afghan-Pakistan TAPI gas pipeline that the US has sought since 1998 is finally nearing completion. But whether it can operate in the face of sabotage remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Washington has been unable to create a stable government in Kabul. The primary reason: ethnic politics. Over half the population is Pashtun (or Pathan), from whose ranks come Taliban. Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara minorities fiercely oppose the Pashtun. All three collaborated with the Soviet occupation from 1979-1989; today they collaborate with the US and NATO occupation.

Most of the Afghan army and police, on which the US spends $6 billion annually, are Tajiks and Uzbek, many members of the old Afghan Communist Party. To Pashtun, they are bitter enemies. In Afghanistan, the United States has built its political house on ethnic quicksands.

Worse, U.S.-run Afghanistan now produces 93% of the world’s most dangerous narcotic, heroin. Under Taliban, drug production virtually ended, according to the UN. Today, the Afghan drug business is booming. The U.S. tries to blame Taliban; but the real culprits are high government officials in Kabul and U.S.-backed warlords.

A senior UN drug official recently asserted that Afghan heroin killed 10,000 people in NATO countries last year. And this does not include Russia, a primary destination for Afghan heroin.

So the United States is now the proud owner of the world’s leading narco-state and deeply involved with the Afghan Tajik drug mafia.

The US is bleeding billions in Afghanistan. Forty-four cents of every dollar spent by Washington is borrowed from China and Japan. While the United States has wasted $1.283 trillion on the so-called “war on terror,” China has been busy buying up resources and making new friends and markets. The ghost of Osama bin Laden must be smiling.

America can’t afford this endless war against the fierce Pashtun people, renowned for making Afghanistan “the Graveyard of Empires.” But the imperial establishment in Washington wants to hold on to strategic Afghanistan, particularly the ex-Soviet air bases at Bagram and Kandahar. The U.S. is building its biggest embassy in the world in Kabul, an $800 million fortress with 1,000 personnel, protected by a small army of mercenary gunmen. So much for withdrawal plans.

The stumbling, confused U.S. war in Afghanistan has now lasted longer than the two world wars. The former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McCrystal, just said Washington’s view of that nation is “frighteningly simplistic.” That’s an understatement.

Facing the possibility of stalemate or even defeat in Afghanistan, Washington is trying to push India deeper into the conflict. This desperate ploy, and nurturing ethnic conflict, will ensure another decade of misery for Afghanistan.

Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2011

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6 Responses to Unhappy Anniversary, Afghanistan

Afghanistan was the wrong War, with the wrong people (Pashtuns)
in the wrong place at the wrong time! The entire fiasco is a self-inflicted wound caused by mixing buffoon ideologies with
exaggerated bigotry and then attacking a 12th Century Ancient
People because we ridiculed their sense of “Individual Freedoms”
like men and boy’s with automatic guns.

Eric Margolis has, sadly, been 100% Right! All of this was about Caspian Area Oil, Nat Gas, and ‘Ocean Access’ to the Indian Ocean and “Access” to the Rising Demand Markets in ‘India’ and ‘China’ after decades of “OUTSOURCING” Work, Factories, Job’s and so on “Out Of America” also called “Operation Texas.”.

Washington’s real objective was clearly defined in 2007 by US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher: to “stabilize Afghanistan so it can become a conduit and hub between South and Central Asia –- so energy can flow south.”

I take issue with this statement. Yes, Afghanistan has great unexploited mineral wealth and it is situated astride a strategic energy pathway. But the real reason that we are in that country is to keep watch on the unstable islamist regime in next door Pakistan, which possesses 80 to 100 nuclear warheads and the ability to deliver them. The two former Soviet air bases in Afghanistan are vital for any action against Pakistan.

I disagree with the foreign policy establishment’s pax-Americana mindset. But they rule the roost and the TALK is that US troops (come hell or high water) will stay in Afghanistan until 2024.

Another damning indictment of our foreign policy by Eric Margolis, who surely is among the finest journalists on the political scene today.

Sadly, our stupidity in getting involved in pointless, unwinnable wars is nothing new. During the 40’s our leaders were warned — by MacArthur and others — of the folly of becoming involved in a land war in Asia. We of course did so twice — in Korea, where we managed to escape while saving “face” — and in VietNam, where we did not.

The more I read of Buchanan, Margolis and others, the more I realize that WWII was an unmitigated disaster for us, although not suspected at the time. It is the source of our maintenance of a huge standing army , for the first time in our history, and prompted us to seek a military solution for all obstacles. Like many, I used to view the war as the “good war” and the ultimate in heroism and national purpose. Needless to say those days are long passed.

Our presence in Afghanistan is not only a total deadly fiasco but a complete lie to boot. The culture of Afghanistan is essentially trapped in the 7th century. and probably always will be. The heroin thing is just S.E. Asia revisited 1965-1975. Every neocon responsible for this nightmare should have been impeached! This also includes the present administration. The cost of Iraq and Afghanistan will more than likely be the straw that breaks the camels back, concerning our country’s horrible financial situation. The plight of our troops in the middle east no longer concerns me, bring them home an my attitude will change.